Black Rock Solar was a tiny nonprofit back then, cobbled together by a dozen volunteers after the 2007 “burn,” the weeklong event held in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert where thousands of artists, musicians and creative types gather each August. That year, a solar installation was donated to Burning Man, and the leave-no-trace ethic behind the gathering meant that the volunteers had to find a home for the array once the festival ended. They did — at a local school in Gerlach, Nevada, on the edge of the desert 10 miles from the festival.

That installation was to be the first of many. Armed with fresh experience and knowledge of the state's rebates and incentives, Black Rock started looking for community organizations that might benefit from low cost, sustainable energy. They also pushed Nevada's Public Utility Commission to remove a cap limiting incentives to solar installations smaller than 30 kilowatts, opening the door for larger, more visible installations.

And visibility here is the key. While Black Rock's installations of 4.7MW of solar onto the Nevada grid is no mean feat in and of itself, Black Rock co-founder Tom Price tells NationSwell that the real idea was to be a disruptive force in the broader energy landscape:

“[We wanted people to ask] why is it that the Boys and Girls Club, the home for battered women, this Indian rural health clinic can have solar, but I can’t put it in my home or business?” Price says. “We wanted to change the narrative of the conversation around renewable energy. That’s going to echo throughout the community in ways you can’t imagine.”

The importance of initiatives like Black Rock Solar should not be underestimated.

As solar power gets cheaper and more commonplace, there are legitimate concerns that the neediest communities — those most likely to struggle with paying their energy bills — may be left out of this potential democratization of energy. In fact, opponents of distributed solar power sometimes argue that it leaves the poor paying more than their fair share for grid infrastructure as folks who can afford solar defect from the grid.